Mikkel Wallentin - Cross-cultural sex/gender differences in produced word content before the age of three years
Thursday 20/10/2022, 3:30 pm (GMT+2/Warsaw time)
Please note that this semester we're meeting on Thursdays!
Hybrid meeting (via Zoom): click here to join the meeting
If you want to join the meeting in person, please contact the organizers.
Facebook event: Link
Our guest will be Prof. Mikkel Wallentin from School of Communication and Culture & Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University.
Title: Cross-cultural sex/gender differences in produced word content before the age of three years
Abstract
Does sex/gender matter for language acquisition? Small female advantages in vocabulary size are well-documented. In this study, however, we show that children’s early vocabulary composition is a significantly better predictor of sex/gender than size. We conducted classification analysis on word production data from children (12-36 months, n=39,553) acquiring 26 different languages. Children’s sex/gender was classified above chance level in 22 out of 26 languages. Classification accuracy was significantly higher than for models based on vocabulary size and increased as a function of sample size. Boys produced more words for vehicles and outdoor scenes, while girls produced more words for clothing and body parts. Classification accuracy also increased as a function of age and peaked at 30 months, reaching accuracy levels observed in studies of adult word use. These differences in vocabulary are indicative of biocultural differences in the lifeworld of children and may themselves cause further differences in development.
Before the meeting, please read the paper: [PsyArxiv] Cross-cultural sex/gender differences in produced word content before the age of three years.
Additionally, we will discuss this chapter: "Gender differences in language are small but matter for disorders"), also authored by Prof. Wallentin; if you don't have the access, please contact us.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 952324.
